Odie first met Garfield on August 8th, 1978. Garfield's reaction of him was probably, "What did I do to deserve this?". Odie wasn't originally Jon's dog. He was owned by Jon's friend Lyman, who had dropped in unannounced and uninvited and stayed for a few weeks. Much to Garfield's horror, when Lyman left he forgot to take Odie.
Odie is a loving and extremely happy dog. He is continuously wagging his tail, drooling, and panting. He chases his tail and runs after cars. He is terribly uncoordinated. Garfield abuses Odie a lot. He ties his ears in a bow under his chin, stuffs his nose into his mouth, and a daily custom is to kick Odie off the table. The odd thing is that Odie never seems to remember all these things the next day.
According to Garfield, Odie is so dumb, it took him three years to learn how to breathe, his IQ is so low you can't test it, and that Odie was born to be a paperweight or a doorstop.
Odie is a special dog. He's lovable, loyal, and friendly. Although Garfield would seldom admit it, Odie is Garfield's best friend.